Tuesday preview: SABMiller, Burberry, inflation

17th Jan 2011 15:40

A number of alcoholic drinks-related companies are due to release trading updates this week, and brewing giant SABMiller is first to the bar on Tuesday.The global operator recently advanced into territory dominated by the world's biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, with the purchase of CASA Isenbeck, Argentina's third-largest brewer. The move strengthened its presence in Latin America and will dilute its dependence on the European market which has been flat, at best, recently. China and Africa have been the engines of volume growth for the brewer recently.Fashion group Burberry is not expected to join the chorus of retailers grumbling about the bad weather in December. JP Morgan Cazenove thinks the third quarter update will be a good one, given how buoyant the luxury goods sector was in the final quarter of 2010.The broker reckons underlying sales will be up by just under 20%, with the retail side's sales up by 36% thanks to strong demand from China. Spread betting firm IG Group releases interim results covering the six months to the end of November. The company has already indicated that it saw a 9% jump in first half revenue despite a number of regulatory hurdles in Japan and the US. Sales are expected to be in the region of £157m, with mainland Europe driving the improvement. Regulatory restrictions in Japan, which came into play in August, have had an adverse impact on client activity levels there, and broker Panmure Gordon will be interested to see if there is any comment on the scale of the write-down likely on the Japanese business.The broker also wants to know whether back office integration delays in the US have been resolved.Despite these concerns, Panmure Gordon remains a fan of the stock. "This is a low capital intensity business with expansion into new geographies requiring limited upfront capital. With £140m of net cash estimated at the May year-end, excluding client money, IG holds a significant free cash balance surplus to its regulatory requirement. Sale of the non-core Sports betting division, which has been speculated for some time now, increases the likelihood of a special return to shareholders, in our opinion," the broker said.Switching to the economy, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) releases its December housing market survey overnight. The month was characterised by poor weather conditions which is sure to have choked off demand."We expect the RICS survey to reveal that the balance of surveyors reporting that house prices increased over the previous three months was unchanged at -44% in December after improving modestly to this level in November from the 18-month low of -49% in October," said Dr. Howard Archer of the forecasting unit IHS Global Insight. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) also pitches in with its take on house prices, though its data pertains to November. Expectations are that the house price index will show an annual increase of 5.90%m, up from October's 5.50% gain. Last week the Bank of England decided to keep interest rates unchanged, despite growing concerns about rising inflation. Tuesday will see inflation data released for December.The retail price index is expected to show a 4.80% year on year (yoy) increase, up from 4.70% in November, while the consumer price index is forecast to show an unchanged yoy gain of 3.30%. The core consumer price inflation rate is tipped to ease to 2.60% from 2.70%.Higher commodity prices, particularly oil and food, will have had their effect on inflation in December. INTERIMSIG Group HoldingsQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATECaterpillar Inc.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSIndustrial Production (JPN)Capacity Utilisation (JPN)Machine Tool Orders (JPN)Tertiary Industry Index (JPN)ZEW Survey (EU) (10:00)Empire State Manufacturing Survey (US) (13:30)NAHB Housing Market Index (US) (15:00)ABC Consumer Confidence (US) (22:00)GMSKenetics Group Ltd., Pathfinder Minerals FINALSArden Partners, Chemring Group, Safestore HoldingsIMSSExperianEGMSDolphin Capital Investors Ltd., XCounter ABAGMSATH Resources, Baring Emerging Europe, European Investment Trust, SVM Global FundTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSBurberry Group, Carphone Warehouse Group, Record, SABMillerUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSRICS House Price Balance (00:01)Consumer Price Index (09:30)Retail Price Index (09:30)DCLG House Prices (09:30)